Polka Dot Rock Posted January 29, 2007 Share Posted January 29, 2007 After reading through the thread on Instant/Constant Characters, it got me thinking about books where the character/s are one of my favourite elements. Here are some of mine: * Fevvers - Nights At The Circus (Angela Carter) * Jane Eyre - erm, Jane Eyre (Charlotte Bronte) * Matilda - Matilda (Roald Dahl) * Nannie - The One Hundred and One Dalmations (Dodie Smith) * Lyra and Will - His Dark Materials trilogy (Philip Pullman) * Estella - Great Expectations (Charles Dickens) * Oskar Schell - Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close (Jonathan Safran Foer) That's off the top of my head, but I'm sure there are some others... No doubt, you lot will remind me of more! I found it harder to think of favourite characters than of favourite books, actually! And I've noticed that there are four 'children' in there, and even Fevvers, Jane and Estella are shown as children in their novels. I can't think why that should be! Oh and there's a dog in there too, lol. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Icecream Posted January 29, 2007 Share Posted January 29, 2007 Dogs make great characters. I always loved Nanna in Peter Pan:mrgreen: My favourite character of all time is Gandalf - Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien. I love his wisdom, mystery, wit and i can't remember what else because somehow my post was deleted:motz: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JudyB Posted January 29, 2007 Share Posted January 29, 2007 And don't forget The Famous Five's Timmy! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kell Posted January 29, 2007 Share Posted January 29, 2007 I always loved Puddleglum in The Silver Chair by C. S. Lewis (the last in the Chronicles of Narnia) - he was such a darkly funny character, so morose yet exactly what they children needed to get through their adventure. I've also always been a fan of both Angua and Vimes from the City Watch books of Terry Pratchett's Discworld series. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Liz Posted January 29, 2007 Share Posted January 29, 2007 I like the City Watch from Discworld as well. I also really like Rincewind and the Wizards. There are a few crime fiction characters that I like - Morse and Lewis from Inspector Morse and Poirot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Acesare* Posted January 29, 2007 Share Posted January 29, 2007 Eddie and Susanna from The Dark Tower series (I though he was 'cute' while she was so feisty and strong in overcoming her disability) and Prot from the K-PAX trillogy (gotta love an 'alien'). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
poppy Posted January 30, 2007 Share Posted January 30, 2007 Ones that immediately come to mind are some of P.G.Wodehouse's characters. Bertie, Jeeves, Gussie Finknottle the newt fancier, Lord Emsworth owner of Empress the pig, Madeleine Bassett who is always wittering on about the stars being like God's little bunny rabbits in the sky or some such (enough to make poor Bertie shudder, especially when she decides she's going to marry him). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
muggle not Posted January 30, 2007 Share Posted January 30, 2007 Maybe not my favorite characters but iIdo like the Nac Mac Feegles. Kell, I am sure will know who I mean. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KW Posted January 30, 2007 Share Posted January 30, 2007 I love character driven stories and my favorites are: Cam and Anna in Sea Swept by Nora Roberts Cam, Philip, Ethan and Seth in the Quinn series by Nora Roberts Roxy, Luke, Max and Lily in Honest Illusions by Nora Roberts Cam and Reuben in Fighting Reuben Wolfe by Markus Zusak Cam and Reuben in Getting the Girl by Markus Zusak Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kell Posted January 30, 2007 Share Posted January 30, 2007 Maybe not my favorite characters but iIdo like the Nac Mac Feegles. Kell, I am sure will know who I mean. Ach, o' course ah ken wha they arrrrrre, laddie! They are wonderful characters who have been described by a friend of mine as "Smurfs on Smack", but I think they're much better than that. And the thoughts of sheepies and coos whizzing past backwards always has me in fits. I've been thinking some more and I must add both Macro and Cato from Somin Scarrow's Eagles series to my list of favourites. The start out as veteran Centurion and fresh-faced Optio, respectively, in the Roman legions, sent to Britain in 43 AD in the first book, and as the books go on, the characters develop into something wonderfully complex and real. If I were to meet them in real life, I'd want them as friends. I certainly wouldn't want to get on the wrong side of them! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Weave Posted January 30, 2007 Share Posted January 30, 2007 My favourites characters are... Roland Deschain from The Dark Tower Series by Stephen King: I think he is such a complicated character, everything is about the Tower, and you learn why when you read the series. John Mischief from Abarat (the first book) by Clive Barker: John Mischief has seven brothers but they are a single body, John Mischief has the actual body and his brothers, John Fillet, John Sallow, John Moot, John Drowze, John Pluckitt, John Serpent and John Slop grew on the antlers on John Mischief's head, they all have very different personalities which makes interesting reading. Rae Seddon from Sunshine by Robin McKinley: Another wonderful character, I really liked Rae, I hope Robin McKinley writes more books with Rae in them. Jack Crabb from Little Big Man and The Return of Little Big Man by Thomas Berger: Jack Crabb is a brilliant character, I actually felt sad leaving him when I got to the end of 'The Return of Little Big Man'. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
samgrosser Posted January 30, 2007 Share Posted January 30, 2007 My favourite character of all time is Gandalf - Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien. I love his wisdom, mystery, wit and i can't remember what else because somehow my post was deleted:motz: One of my favourite characters has always been Aragorn - probably the first fictional character I actually fell in love with, when I was about 15. Then when the films came out I fell in love with him all over again. But before I discovered Tolkien I wanted to be Lucy from The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Icecream Posted January 30, 2007 Share Posted January 30, 2007 Sam - I too fell in love with Aragorn, on paper, and in film. I still rather love Viggo. Shhh don't tell Drex;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wraith* Posted January 31, 2007 Share Posted January 31, 2007 Edward - Anita Blake Vampire Hunter Series. Wiki Says: Edward is 5'9" with blond hair and blue eyes. Anita describes Edward as "not an imposing man", appearance-wise. She also describes his eyes - "as cold and as distant as wintery skies". A hitman, he now specializes in assassinating supernatural targets, because humans were too easy. He particularly hunts vampires and lycanthropes, and taught Anita most of her combat skills. Anita considers herself to be possibly Edward's only true friend. Edward is an extremely dangerous man, as Anita describes him. He is known to the monsters as Death, seemingly because he has had so many kills. Edward is a gun freak, knowing a lot about every brand of gun. As Anita says, "He carries more firepower than Rambo". He has given Anita several "toys" (as he calls his weapons), at various times including a Mini-Uzi and a sawn-off shotgun, and she was envious of his custom Seecamp auto. He uses any sort of firepower, regardless of any innocent bystanders. Edward has been known to use a flamethrower on vampires. He also customises his bullets, filling the silver hollow points with holy water and mercury, sealed with wax. Edward is a sociopath. Sociopathy plays a big part in this series, between Anita and Edward's relationships. They often talk about how effortlessly they can kill, without feeling anything, without caring for the ones they kill. Another topic that they openly discuss, have discussed, many times, is "who would be better". Edward says that his greatest fantasy is to go against Anita, and see who is better. Edward claims to have dreamed about it. Anita can see the excitement in his eyes and believes him. Edward acts like he doesn't really care about anything, but we see in Obsidian Butterfly he shoots through a whole gang of baddies, to save his girlfriend Donna's children, Becca and Peter. "I always thought Edward killed emotionless, his eyes cold." Anita said, in Obsidian Butterfly, "But when I looked into his baby blues, they were filled with fire. I had always thought Edward was scariest at his most cold. I was wrong. Edward the family man was downright terrifying." Edward leads a double life; Edward as an assassin is the true Edward (as far as we know). He has an alias, his only legal identity (as far as we know) called Ted Forrester. Ted is a licensed bounty hunter, and "good ol' boy" operating out of Santa Fe. Ted is engaged to a widow, Donna Parnell, with two kids, Peter (who is 14) and Becca (who is 6), not to mention the two maltese Peeka and Boo. He appears to have a close relationship with them, and Anita almost thinks that Edward could be in love. History: Edward's past is shrouded in mystery, however we do know that he once worked and was trained by a man named Van Cleef, with the suggestion of a military connection. He is recognised by others who trained under Van Cleef who call him "The Undertaker" a name he apparently acquired due to having the highest kill count of any of Van Cleef's trainees. Edward tells Anita that he was allowed to leave on Van Cleef's troop on the condition that he never spoke about it. According to Anita's account in Guilty Pleasures, approximately two years before the start of the series, Edward and Anita collaborated in the hunt for Valentine and his nest of vampires. Ultimately, Edward used a flamethrower, burning a house down around himself and Anita. He reminds me of me and we've seen his personality develop so much over the books. Can't wait for his return int he next one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Polka Dot Rock Posted January 31, 2007 Author Share Posted January 31, 2007 There's definitely something about mysterious characters: one of the aspects that makes Fevvers my favourite character is whilst she is brash and appears to be an open book, she is actually ambiguous and guarded. It's not just about whether she is or isn't an actual bird-woman, but she represents the contradictions that are often raging within women. Plus she's a sweary ol' cockney who drinks too much and wears a lot of make up. Gotta love her for that! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
muggle not Posted February 2, 2007 Share Posted February 2, 2007 Ach, o' course ah ken wha they arrrrrre, laddie! They are wonderful characters who have been described by a friend of mine as "Smurfs on Smack", but I think they're much better than that. And the thoughts of sheepies and coos whizzing past backwards always has me in fits. Ach! Crivens. The big wee hag is gonna send me packin'. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Purple Poppy Posted February 2, 2007 Share Posted February 2, 2007 Judy said And don't forget The Famous Five's Timmy! I'm so glad you mentioned him. I loved Timmy! I also fell in love with Aragorn, via the film as I have never read the books. But after that, I'm at a loss. As someone said, its bad enough to think of favourite books, let alone chararcters. I think I will have to start compiling elaborate lists, so that I don't look quite as ignorant in threads like this!! Kell and Muggles, what are you talking about...cows flying backwards sounds a hoot. Tell me! I have to read!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kell Posted February 2, 2007 Share Posted February 2, 2007 Kell and Muggles, what are you talking about...cows flying backwards sounds a hoot. Tell me! I have to read!!The nac mac Feegles have a habit of stealing sheep & cows - four to a beastie, they each get under one hoof & lift, then run off with it bleeting or mooing, often with the poor creature facing backwards. Read the Tiffany Aching books & you'll see. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
benedicklover Posted February 3, 2007 Share Posted February 3, 2007 Mr Tumnus - The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, the first character I really loved. Benedick - Much Ado About Nothing, for his wit, charm (or lack or it) and intelligence Hamlet - I fell in love with him as a moody teenager BFG -how I wish I spoke like him when I was a kid! Dobby the House Elf - Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets There are others I am sure, but these are straight from the top of my head. All this talk of Nights at the Circus is making me want to read it again. I remember enjoying it when I read it for A level, but can't remember much about it now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Library Nook Posted February 3, 2007 Share Posted February 3, 2007 Wow that is really difficult, I cannot think of a favourite character off the top of my head although I know I have because I remember reading books and hating when they ended and I would have to leave the characters. Um..hmm you have got me thinking, I will be back! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thebottle Posted February 3, 2007 Share Posted February 3, 2007 Henry Chinaski and Dean Moriarty Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sib Posted February 4, 2007 Share Posted February 4, 2007 Rumpole Sherlock Holmes Jeeves and Wooster Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kernow_reader Posted February 4, 2007 Share Posted February 4, 2007 One of my favourite characters is Gabriel Oak from umm, err, my umm favourite book which I can't think of the name of, Dang! "Far From The Madding Crowd". Yes, that's it! What a noble guy he is. Others are: All the dogs in One Hundred and One Dalmations. I love the midnight bark! Idgie in Fried Green Tomatoes at The Whistle Stop Cafe. Atticus Finch in To Kill A Mockingbird. Mr Pye in Mervyn Peake's Mr Pye. Mary Poppins. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JudyB Posted February 8, 2007 Share Posted February 8, 2007 One of my favourite characters is Gabriel Oak from umm, err, my umm favourite book which I can't think of the name of, Dang! "Far From The Madding Crowd". Yes, that's it! What a noble guy he is. He is somebody that came to mind when I saw this thread - FFTMC is one of my faves as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Liz Posted February 10, 2007 Share Posted February 10, 2007 RumpoleSherlock Holmes Jeeves and Wooster Ooh, yes, I forgot that one. He's definitely one of my favourites! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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